Industrial controller automation interface

ABSTRACT

An automation interface is provided for interacting with industrial controllers. The automation interface provides for programming, editing, monitoring and maintenance of industrial controllers programmatically from a local or remote location. The automation interface component is adapted to communicate with industrial controllers by integrating a computer process interface library into the automation interface component. The computer process interface library exposes the automation interface component to client application processes, so that the client application processes can communicate with the at least one industrial controller programmatically. The automation interface is provided with functionality for downloading, uploading and programming of control programs to the processors of the industrial controllers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/189,517, filed Aug. 11, 2008 and entitled “INDUSTRIALCONTROLLER AUTOMATION INTERFACE”, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/533,991, filed Sep. 21, 2006, now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 7,424,329, entitled “INDUSTRIAL CONTROLLER AUTOMATIONINTERFACE”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/945,189, filed Sep. 20, 2004, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,130,704,entitled “INDUSTRIAL CONTROLLER AUTOMATION INTERFACE”, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/928,623, filed Aug.13, 2001, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,960, entitled “INDUSTRIALCONTROLLER AUTOMATION INTERFACE”. The entireties of the aforementionedapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to industrial control systemsand in particular to an automation interface for industrial controllers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Industrial controllers are special purpose computers used forcontrolling factory automation devices. Under the direction of a storedprogram, a processor of the industrial controller examines a series ofinputs reflecting the status of a controlled process or device andchanges outputs affecting control of the controlled process or device.Generally industrial controllers are constructed in modular fashion toaccommodate different application requiring different numbers and typesof input/output (I/O) circuits as is determined by the particular deviceor process being controlled. The stored control program runs inreal-time to provide outputs to the controlled process as electricalsignals to outputs such as actuators and the like. The outputs are basedon the logic of the control program and inputs received from sensors ofthe controlled process.

The industrial controller or programmable logic controller (PLC)executes a series of operations that are performed sequentially andrepeatedly. In general, the series of operations includes an input scan,a program scan, and an output scan. During the input scan the PLCexamines the on or off state of the external inputs and saves thesestates temporarily in memory (e.g., a file). During the program scan thePLC scans the instruction of the program and uses the input status todetermine if an output will be energized. The output results are thensaved to memory (e.g., a file). During the output scan the controllerwill energize or de-energize the outputs based on the output resultsstored in memory to control the external devices.

A conventional language for programming the stored program is relayladder logic. Each ladder logic program comprises one or more ladderlogic statements, referred to as rungs or instructions. The ladder logicstatements define relationships between an output variable and one ormore input variables. Input variables are variables that correspond tosignals at input terminals and output variables are variables thatcorrespond to signals at output terminals. In relay ladder logic, theinput and output signals may be represented graphically as contactsymbols and coil symbols arranged in a series of rungs spanning a pairof vertical power rails. A typical ladder logic statement may indicatethat a specific output variable is “on” if and only if a first and asecond input is “on”.

The ladder logic program not only manipulates single-bit input andoutput data representing the state of the sensing and operating devices,but also performs arithmetic operations, timing and counting functions,and more complex processing operations.

A ladder program can be created by connecting a special input module toa PLC that includes a small keyboard and entering ladder logicstatements directly into the memory of the PLC. Another method ofcreating a ladder logic program involves, utilizing a ladder logicprogram development/editor tool residing on a separate device, such as apersonal computer. An operator or programmer of the personal computerdraws a series of ladder logic graphs representing each rung orinstruction directly on the computer display screen. Once the ladderlogic program is complete, the PC software converts the graphs into thecorresponding ladder logic commands. The ladder logic command are thentransferred to the PLC and stored in the PLC memory.

A PLC and/or a personal computer device can store one or more ladderlogic programs and versions. However, a user must manually upload,download, edit and develop ladder logic programs at a work station orpersonal computer running a developer/editor application program.Furthermore, data backup and storage must be manually invoked by anoperator through the application program or be conducted through anothersystem separate from the application program. Accordingly there is anunmet need in the art to provide an improved system and method fordeveloping, editing, replacing and monitoring industrial controlprograms and/or data associated with a controlled process involving theindustrial controller.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is intended toneither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineatethe scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some conceptsof the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detaileddescription that is presented later.

The present invention provides a system and method for providing anautomation interface for interacting with industrial controllers. Theautomation interface provides for programming, editing, monitoring andmaintenance of industrial controllers programmatically from a local orremote location. The automation interface component is adapted tocommunicate with industrial controllers by integrating a computerprocess interface library into the automation interface component. Thecomputer process interface library exposes the automation interfacecomponent to client application processes, so that the clientapplication processes can communicate with the at least one industrialcontroller programmatically. The automation interface is provided withfunctionality for downloading, uploading and programming of controlprograms to the processors of the industrial controllers.

The automation interface also allows for data associated with one ormore control processes to be accessible programmatically. The data canbe used to determine status information of the one or more controlprocesses or logged for later analysis. The automation interface can beexposed to a web service, such that industrial controllers can beaccessed via the Internet. Data associated with one or more controlprocesses can be logged at a third party data store, so that systembackup can be outsourced.

The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detailcertain illustrative aspects of the invention. These aspects areindicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which theprinciples of the invention may be employed. Other advantages and novelfeatures of the invention will become apparent from the followingdetailed description of the invention when considered in conjunctionwith the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block schematic diagram of a system employing anautomation interface in accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a tree structure of componentsassociated with the automation interface in accordance with one aspectof the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block schematic diagram of a remote computerinteracting with the automation interface residing on a local server inaccordance with one aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block schematic diagram of a client applicationaccessing the automation interface via the Internet in accordance withone aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a code module for downloading a control program to aprocessor of an industrial controller through the automation interfacein accordance with one aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a code module for uploading a control program from aprocessor of an industrial controller through the automation interfacein accordance with one aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a code module for inserting a rung into a controlprogram and downloading the control program to a processor of anindustrial controller through the automation interface in accordancewith one aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a Visual Basic form that provides a variety offunctionality for interacting with an industrial controller through theautomation interface in accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow diagram of a methodology for providing anautomation interface in accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system in accordancewith an environment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described with reference to thedrawings. The present invention will be described with reference to asystem and method for providing an automation interface for interactingwith industrial controllers. The automation interface provides forprogramming, editing, monitoring and maintenance of industrialcontrollers programmatically. For example, one or more control programsassociated with an industrial controller or programmable logiccontroller (PLC) can be created and/or edited locally or remotely viathe automation interface. The automation interface also allows formonitoring and maintenance to be provided by exposing the automationinterface to local and remote applications. For example, data associatedwith one or more control processes can be accessed programmatically. Thedata can be used to determine status information of the one or morecontrol processes or logged for later analysis. Furthermore, processparameters and/or control programs can be changed programmatically suchthat operator intervention is eliminated. The present system and methodmay be implemented utilizing hardware, software or a combination of bothhardware and software.

The present invention may be implemented via object oriented programmingtechniques. In this case each component of the system, could be anobject in a software routine or a component within an object. Objectoriented programming shifts the emphasis of software development awayfrom function decomposition and towards the recognition of units ofsoftware called “objects” which encapsulate both data and functions.Object Oriented Programming (OOP) objects are software entitiescomprising data structures and operations on data. Together, theseelements enable objects to model virtually any real-world entity interms of its characteristics, represented by its data elements, and itsbehavior represented by its data manipulation functions. In this way,objects can model concrete things like people and computers, and theycan model abstract concepts like numbers or geometrical concepts.

The benefit of object technology arises out of three basic principles:encapsulation, polymorphism and inheritance. Objects hide or encapsulatethe internal structure of their data and the algorithms by which theirfunctions work. Instead of exposing these implementation details,objects present interfaces that represent their abstractions cleanlywith no extraneous information. Polymorphism takes encapsulation onestep further—the idea being many shapes, one interface. A softwarecomponent can make a request of another component without knowingexactly what that component is. The component that receives the requestinterprets it and figures out according to its variables and data how toexecute the request. The third principle is inheritance, which allowsdevelopers to reuse pre-existing design and code. This capability allowsdevelopers to avoid creating software from scratch. Rather, throughinheritance, developers derive subclasses that inherit behaviors whichthe developer then customizes to meet particular needs.

In particular, an object includes, and is characterized by, a set ofdata (e.g., attributes) and a set of operations (e.g., methods), thatcan operate on the data. Generally, an object's data is ideally changedonly through the operation of the object's methods. Methods in an objectare invoked by passing a message to the object (e.g., message passing).The message specifies a method name and an argument list. When theobject receives the message, code associated with the named method isexecuted with the formal parameters of the method bound to thecorresponding values in the argument list.

Methods and message passing in OOP are analogous to procedures andprocedure calls in procedure-oriented software environments. However,while procedures operate to modify and return passed parameters, methodsoperate to modify the internal state of the associated objects (bymodifying the data contained therein). The combination of data andmethods in objects is called encapsulation. Encapsulation provides forthe state of an object to only be changed by well-defined methodsassociated with the object. When the behavior of an object is confinedto such well-defined locations and interfaces, changes (e.g., codemodifications) in the object will have minimal impact on the otherobjects and elements in the system.

Each object is an instance of some class. A class includes a set of dataattributes plus a set of allowable operations (e.g., methods) on thedata attributes. As mentioned above, OOP supports inheritance—a class(called a subclass) may be derived from another class (called a baseclass, parent class, etc.), where the subclass inherits the dataattributes and methods of the base class. The subclass may specializethe base class by adding code which overrides the data and/or methods ofthe base class, or which adds new data attributes and methods. Thus,inheritance represents a mechanism by which abstractions are madeincreasingly concrete as subclasses are created for greater levels ofspecialization.

The present invention can employ abstract classes, which are designs ofsets of objects that collaborate to carry out a set of responsibilities.Frameworks are essentially groups of interconnected objects and classesthat provide a prefabricated structure for a working application. Itshould also be appreciated that the PCM and the shared memory componentscould be implemented utilizing hardware and/or software, and all suchvariations are intended to fall within the appended claims includedherein.

The present examples will be illustrated with respect to providing anautomation interface having a set of objects conforming to the ComponentObject Model (COM) developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.COM is an object-oriented programming model that provides a standard asto how objects within a single application or between applications(e.g., client/server applications) interact and communicate. COM definesa set of standard interfaces, which are groupings of semanticallyrelated functions through which a client application accesses theservices of, for example, a server application. The present example isprovided with respect to integrating a COM interface, such as IDispatch,into an executable program (.exe) to provide for remote automationacross a network. It is appreciated that a variety of other mechanisms(e.g., interfaces) can be employed to provide both remote and localaccess to the automation interface of the present invention. Forexample, communications through computer processes can occur throughDynamic Data Exchange (DDE), named pipes and shared memory to name afew. Other mechanisms of providing communications between processeswould be apparent to those skilled in the art of computer programming.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 for interacting programmatically with oneor more industrial controllers 18 through an automation interface 14.Each of the industrial controllers are coupled to one or moreinput/output (IO) modules 17 through a common backplane. A clientapplication 16 can communicate to the one or more industrial controllers18 through the automation interface 14. The automation interface 14 andthe client application 16 operate as separate computer processes. Theautomation interface 14 is a stand alone executable file provided withone or more components having one or more computer process interfacescompiled therein. The one or more computer process interfaces allow theclient application to access the one or more components either locallyor remotely. The automation interface has a visible mode provided with auser interface and an invisible mode where no user interface isprovided.

For example, if the automation interface 14 includes compiled COMlibraries, the client application 16 can access the automation interface14 through a local procedure call (LPC) or a remote procedure call(RPC). A set of proxies and stubs (DLLs) are provided to marshall andunmarshall parameters associated with local and remote calls. Theautomation interface 14 is provided with a set of classes (e.g., C++,JAVA, C#) or functions having functionality for communicating with oneor more industrial controllers residing in a work environment (e.g., afactory floor). The set of classes include functionality for uploading,downloading, editing and creating of control programs of one or moreindustrial controllers. Additionally, the set of classes includefunctionality for accessing control process data for monitoring andstorage of the control process data. Data table values in controllermemory can be accessed and edited programmatically through theautomation interface 14.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an object or class tree 20 associatedwith the automation interface 14. Each of the objects can have one ormore properties, methods and events associated with the object. Theobject or class tree 20 includes a top level application object 22 fromwhich all other objects within the object tree can be accessed. Theapplication object 22 is the main object interface for clientapplications. The application object 22 represents the topmost objectused to access other objects and perform top level operations. A call toan application object creates an instance of that class in memory andrepresents the automation interface to the client application. A projectobject 24 is associated with each industrial controller. The projectobject 24 can be obtained from the application object 22 through one ormore methods. The application object 22 can have one more projectobjects 24 meaning that an application object 22 can access and/or editcontrol programs of one or more industrial controllers. A processorobject 26 is provided, which represents the processor being used with acurrent project.

A program files collection object 30 is provided which represents all ofthe program files in a project. The program files collection object 30can be a property of the project object 24. The program file object 34represents the basic functionality of a program file and can becontained from the program files collection object 30. One or moreprogram files 34 can be associated with the program files collectionsobject 30. A data files collection object 28 is provided, whichrepresents a collection of data files associated with the project. Thedata files collections object 28 can be a property of the project object24. A data file object 32 represents a data file in the project orprocessor and can be obtained from the data files collections object 30.One or more data files can be associated with the data files collectionsobject 28.

A ladder file object 36 represents a ladder file in theproject/processor. The ladder file object 36 can be obtained from theprogram files collections 30. A rung object 38 is provided, whichrepresents a rung of ladder logic that can be inserted, deleted orretrieved and edited in a ladder file object 36. A revision notes object40 is provided that represents the revision notes associated with anyproject. A reports option object 42 represents the report settingsassociated with a project.

It is to be appreciated that the object tree 20 is but one example of apossible implementation to carry out the functionality associated withthe automation interface in accordance with the present invention. Ofcourse, many variations and modifications could be construed by thoseskilled in the art.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system 50 for interacting programmatically to oneor more industrial controllers 74 via a remote computer 58 in accordancewith one aspect of the present invention. An automation interface 54resides on a local server 52. The automation interface 54 is a binaryexecutable program having at least one COM library 56 compiled therein.The COM library 56 provides the automation interface 54 with one or morecomputer process interfaces to allow communication to occur between theautomation interface 54 and one or more computer processes locatedlocally or remotely. The local server 52 is coupled to one or moreindustrial controllers 74 through a network 72 (e.g., local network,factory network). The network 72 allows communication to occur betweenthe automation interface 54 and the one or more industrial controllers74.

The remote computer 58 is coupled to the local server 52 through anetwork 68 (e.g., company intranet, Internet). The remote computer 58includes one or more application programs for communicating to theindustrial controllers 74 at one or more factory locations. The remotecomputer 58 includes a developer application 60 for developingindustrial control programs (e.g., ladder logic programs) anddownloading those programs to the industrial controllers 74. The remotecomputer 58 also includes a monitor application 62, which monitors dataconditions of controlled processes associated with the industrialcontrollers 74. An editor application 64 is provided that uploadscontrol programs from one or more or the industrial controllers, editsor allows editing of the control programs in addition to saving anddownloading the control programs back to the respective industrialcontroller. A maintenance application 66 is provided which operates toautomatically determine when different control programs are to beinvoked and/or replaced with other control programs based on aparticular process and/or time period. The maintenance application 66can also determine periodic intervals for calibrating controlledprocesses.

The developer application 60, the monitor application 62, the editorapplication 64 and the maintenance application 66 are but a few examplesof implementations that can be employed as a result of exposing theautomation interface 54 to remote applications, and providefunctionality to the automation interface 54 for uploading, downloading,editing, monitoring, data storing and other functions associated withindustrial controller programs, data and processes. Although, thedeveloper application, monitor application, editor application andmaintenance application are illustrated as separate applications, thefunctionality associated with each can be integrated into a singleapplication program. A user interface can be provided to theapplications program to allow users to manually control functions, orfunctions can be controlled programmatically without any userintervention.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of a possible implementationemploying the automation interface of the present invention. Anautomation interface 94 is exposed to a web service 92, which allowscommunication to the automation interface 94 over the Internet 88. Theautomation interface 94 is coupled to one or more industrial controllers96. A client application 84 is coupled to the Internet 88 via a webservice and web browser 82, so that the client application cancommunicate to the automation interface 94 over the Internet. Theautomation interface 94 includes functionality for uploading,downloading, editing and creating of control programs of the one or moreindustrial controllers 96. Additionally, the automation interface 94includes functionality for accessing control process data for monitoringand storage of the control process data. The client application 84 cancall the automation interface 94 through the Internet 88, for example,using TCP/IP protocol and invoke any or all of the services associatedwith the automation interface 94 and the industrial controller(s) 96anywhere in the world via an Internet connection. In the example of FIG.4, the client application 84 periodically downloads backup data to athird party data warehouse 90 at another location different from theclient application 84 and the automation interface 94. The data backupcan then be stored and analyzed off-site, such that third party auditingand/or outsourcing can be provided.

Other functions such as editing, development, monitoring and maintenancecan be performed by the client application 84 through an Internetconnection. Additionally, event-driven HTML reports can be generated bythe client application either at the client locations and/or at thelocation of the industrial controllers. Furthermore, the applicationdata and functionality can be shared with developers within a commonenvironment. Developers can also build their own individualizedinterfaces that execute functionality within the automation interfacethrough a client application.

Since the automation interface 84 is provided with computer processinterfaces for communicating between computer processes in executableform, any programming language can be employed to interact andcommunicate with the automation interface using similar type interfaceson the client application end. FIGS. 5-7 illustrate the use of VisualBasic code for carrying out the functionality of downloading of controlprograms, uploading of control programs and the insertions of rungswithin control programs. The present invention allows for functionalityto be grouped into macros, so that individual code instructions can beeliminated for repetitive tasks. A variety of other functionality andcomputer programming languages can be employed to carry out the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sample application module 100 or subroutine writtenin Visual Basic for implementing downloading to a processorprogrammatically in accordance with one aspect of the present invention.In line 07, a new application project is created or instantiated, whichis opened from a project residing on a disk in line 22. Thecommunication routing to the actual processor that the projectrepresents is set up in the application when the project is opened. Thisinformation is saved for later uploading in lines 27-28. The project isthen downloaded to the processor in lines 31-32.

FIG. 6 illustrates a sample application module 110 or subroutine writtenin Visual Basic for implementing uploading from a processorprogrammatically in accordance with one aspect of the present invention.In line 09, a new application project is created, which initializesrouting data in line 15. The project is then told which processor tocommunicate with in line 18. The function to perform the upload iscalled in line 37 and the uploaded program is saved to a file on a diskat lines 41-43.

FIG. 7 illustrates a sample application module 120 or subroutine writtenin Visual Basic for inserting ladder logic programmatically inaccordance with one aspect of the present invention. In line 09, a newapplication is created, which instantiates a new instance of theautomation interface. A project is then opened from disk formodification at line 25 and a program file is selected for uploading atline 29. The selected program is cast to a ladder file at line 30. Asample rung is then built in lines 33-34 and inserted into the selectedprogram at line 37. It is to be appreciated that the examples of FIGS.5-7 are for illustrated purposes, and most error detection/correctioncode was omitted for the sake of clarity.

A user interface can be provided to interact with the automationinterface by utilizing Visual Basic forms. As illustrated in FIG. 8, aVisual Basic form 130 is provided that includes a plurality of buttonsand insert spaces for providing data. A button is provided forinstantiating an automation interface object, uploading and retrievingan active project and removing the automation interface object frommemory. A project object can be saved and downloaded using buttons and aname provided in spaces for saving projects. A processor node can beselected and program files added, removed or retrieved. A program filecan be retrieved and converted to a ladder file. The ladder file canthen be edited by inserting rungs or deleting rungs to the ladder file.A variety of other functions can be provided utilizing Visual Basicforms.

In view of the foregoing structural and functional features describedabove, a methodology in accordance with various aspects of the presentinvention will be better appreciated with reference to FIG. 9. While,for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodology of FIG. 9 isshown and described as executing serially, it is to be understood andappreciated that the present invention is not limited by the illustratedorder, as some aspects could, in accordance with the present invention,occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other aspects fromthat shown and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated featuresmay be required to implement a methodology in accordance with an aspectthe present invention. It is further to be appreciated that thefollowing methodology may be implemented as computer-executableinstructions, such as software stored in a computer-readable medium.Alternatively, the methodology may be implemented as hardware or acombination of hardware and software.

FIG. 9 illustrates one particular methodology for providing anautomation interface in accordance with one particular aspect of thepresent invention. The methodology begins at 150 with the development ofa model for communicating with a plurality of industrial controllers orPLCs. The model is then converted to an object or class tree to form anautomation interface at 160. For example, the classes can be developedto form COM components or the like (e.g., DCOM, CORBA). At 170, computerprocess interfaces are integrated into the automation interface (e.g.,COM libraries). The automation interface is then compiled into anexecutable file so that the executable can be accessed by otherprocesses. At 190, the executable file is exposed to local and remoteapplications by invoking the executable file with the exposed computerprocess interfaces.

With reference to FIG. 10, an exemplary system for implementing theinvention includes a conventional personal or server computer 220,including a processing unit 221, a system memory 222, and a system bus223 that couples various system components including the system memoryto the processing unit 221. The processing unit may be any of variouscommercially available processors, including Intel x86, Pentium andcompatible microprocessors from Intel and others, including Cyrix, AMDand Nexgen; Alpha from Digital; MIPS from MIPS Technology, NEC, IDT,Siemens, and others; and the PowerPC from IBM and Motorola. Dualmicroprocessors and other multi-processor architectures also can be usedas the processing unit 221.

The system bus may be any of several types of bus structure including amemory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus usingany of a variety of conventional bus architectures such as PCI, VESA,Microchannel, ISA and EISA, to name a few. The system memory includesread only memory (ROM) 224 and random access memory (RAM) 225. A basicinput/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help totransfer information between elements within the computer 220, such asduring start-up, is stored in ROM 224.

The computer 220 further includes a hard disk drive 227, a magnetic diskdrive 228, e.g., to read from or write to a removable disk 229, and anoptical disk drive 230, e.g., for reading a CD-ROM disk 231 or to readfrom or write to other optical media. The hard disk drive 227, magneticdisk drive 228, and optical disk drive 230 are connected to the systembus 223 by a hard disk drive interface 232, a magnetic disk driveinterface 233, and an optical drive interface 234, respectively. Thedrives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatilestorage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions,etc., for the server computer 220. Although the description ofcomputer-readable media above refers to a hard disk, a removablemagnetic disk and a CD, it should be appreciated by those skilled in theart that other types of media which are readable by a computer, such asmagnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoullicartridges, and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment.

A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 225,including an operating system 235, one or more application programs 236,other program modules 237, and program data 238. A user may entercommands and information into the computer 220 through a keyboard 240and pointing device, such as a mouse 242. Other input devices (notshown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish,scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connectedto the processing unit 221 through a serial port interface 246 that iscoupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces,such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). Amonitor 247 or other type of display device is also connected to thesystem bus 223 via an interface, such as a video adapter 248. Inaddition to the monitor, computers typically include other peripheraloutput devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers.

The computer 220 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote PLCs, such as a remote PLC 249.Alternatively, the remove PLC 249 may be coupled to a workstation, aserver computer, a router, a peer device or other common network noderemote device. This remote device can include many or all of theelements described relative to the computer 220, although only a memorystorage device 250 has been illustrated in FIG. 10. The logicalconnections depicted in FIG. 10 include a local area network (LAN) 251and a wide area network (WAN) 252. Such networking environments arecommonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets andthe Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 220 is connectedto the local network 251 through a network interface or adapter 253.When used in a WAN networking environment, the server computer 220typically includes a modem 254, or is connected to a communicationsserver on the LAN, or has other means for establishing communicationsover the wide area network 252, such as the Internet. The modem 254,which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 223via the serial port interface 246. In a networked environment, programmodules depicted relative to the computer 220, or portions thereof, maybe stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciatedthat the network connections shown are exemplary and other means ofestablishing a communications link between the computers may be used.

In accordance with practices of persons skilled in the art of computerprogramming, the present invention is described below with reference toacts and symbolic representations of operations that are performed bythe computer 220, unless indicated otherwise. Such acts and operationsare sometimes referred to as being computer-executed. It will beappreciated that the acts and symbolically represented operationsinclude the manipulation by the processing unit 221 of electricalsignals representing data bits which causes a resulting transformationor reduction of the electrical signal representation, and themaintenance of data bits at memory locations in the memory system(including the system memory 222, hard drive 227, floppy disks 229, andCD-ROM 231) to thereby reconfigure or otherwise alter the computersystem's operation, as well as other processing of signals. The memorylocations where data bits are maintained are physical locations thathave particular electrical, magnetic, or optical propertiescorresponding to the data bits.

The present invention has been illustrated with respect to a programmingmethodology and/or computer architecture and a particular example,however, it is to be appreciated that various programming methodologyand/or computer architecture suitable for carrying out the presentinvention may be employed and are intended to fall within the scope ofthe hereto appended claims.

The invention has been described with reference to various aspects ofthe present invention. Obviously, modifications and alterations willoccur to others upon reading and understanding the foregone detaileddescription. It is intended that the invention be construed as includingall such modifications alterations, and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a processor,communicatively coupled to a memory that stores computer-executablecomponents, that executes or facilitates execution of thecomputer-executable components, comprising: an automation interfacecomponent configured with a plurality of project objects, whereinrespective project objects are associated with industrial controllers,wherein the automation interface component is further configured to beaccessed by a plurality of programming languages, and has a visible modethat includes a user interface and an invisible mode that does notinclude a user interface; an application object configured to:instantiate the automation interface for at least one network basedclient; obtain respective project objects associated with at least oneindustrial controller of the industrial controllers; expose theautomation interface to the at least one network-based client; andcommunicatively connect the automation interface to the at least oneindustrial controller and the at least one network-based client usingthe respective project objects associated with the at least oneindustrial controller; a maintenance application configured toautomatically determine when a first control program is to be replacedby a second control program based upon a specific process associatedwith the at least one industrial controller; and wherein the automationinterface is further configured to: receive the first control programfrom the at least one industrial controller, wherein the first controlprogram is utilized to control operation of at least one deviceassociated with an industrial automation process controlled by the atleast one industrial controller; transmit the first control program tothe at least one network-based client application; receive the secondcontrol program generated by the at least one network-based clientapplication based upon the determination by the maintenance applicationthat the first control program is to be replaced by the second controlprogram; and instruct the at least one industrial controller to utilizethe second control program to update the first control program.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the automation interface component is furtherconfigured to employ an Internet based protocol to connect to the atleast one network-based client application.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein the automation interface component is further configured totransmit the first control program to the at least one network-basedclient application in response to an event detected by the at least oneindustrial controller.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the event is apreconfigured time-of-day.
 5. The system of claim 3, wherein the eventis a change in at least one of a property or method of a programmableobject associated with the automation interface component.
 6. A method,comprising: instantiating, by an application object executing in asystem including at least one processor, an automation interface for atleast one network based client, wherein the automation interface isconfigured with a plurality of project objects, wherein respectiveproject objects are associated with industrial controllers, wherein theautomation interface is further configured to be accessed by a pluralityof programming languages, and has a visible mode that includes a userinterface and an invisible mode that does not include a user interface;obtaining, by the application object, respective project objectsassociated with at least one industrial controller of the industrialcontrollers; exposing, by the application object, the automationinterface to the at least one network-based client; and communicativelyconnecting, by the application object, the automation interface to theat least one industrial controller and the at least one network-basedclient using the respective project objects associated with the at leastone industrial controller; automatically determining, by the applicationobject, that a first control program is to be replaced by a secondcontrol program based upon a specific process associated with the atleast one industrial controller; receiving, by the automation interfaceexecuting in the system, the first control program from the at least oneindustrial controller, wherein the first control program is utilized tocontrol operation of at least one device associated with an industrialautomation process controlled by the at least one industrial controller;transmitting, by the automation interface, the first control program tothe at least one network-based client application; receiving, by theautomation interface, the second control program generated by the atleast one network-based client application based upon the determinationthat the first control program is to be replaced by the second controlprogram; and instructing, by the automation interface, the at least oneindustrial controller to utilize the second control program to updatethe first control program.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising,employing, by the automation interface, an Internet based protocol toconnect to the at least one network-based client application.
 8. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the transmitting further comprisestransmitting the first control program to the at least one network-basedclient application in response to an event detected by the at least oneindustrial controller.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the event is apreconfigured time-of-day.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the eventis a change in at least one of a property or method of a programmableobject associated with the automation interface.
 11. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, inresponse to execution, cause at least one device including a processorto perform operations comprising: instantiating, by an applicationobject, an automation interface for at least one network based client,wherein the automation interface is configured with a plurality ofproject objects, wherein respective project objects are associated withindustrial controllers, wherein the automation interface is furtherconfigured to be accessed by a plurality of programming languages, andhas a visible mode that includes a user interface and an invisible modethat does not include a user interface; obtaining, by the applicationobject, respective project objects associated with at least oneindustrial controller of the industrial controllers; exposing, by theapplication object, the automation interface to the at least onenetwork-based client; and communicatively connecting, by the applicationobject, the automation interface to the at least one industrialcontroller and the at least one network-based client using therespective project objects associated with the at least one industrialcontroller; automatically determining that a first control program is tobe replaced by a second control program based upon a specific processassociated with the at least one industrial controller; receiving, bythe automation interface, the first control program from the at leastone industrial controller, wherein the first control program is utilizedto control operation of at least one device associated with anindustrial automation process controlled by the at least one industrialcontroller; transmitting, by the automation interface, the first controlprogram to the at least one network-based client application; receiving,by the automation interface, the second control program generated by theat least one network-based client application based upon thedetermination that the first control program is to be replaced by thesecond control program; and instructing, by the automation interface,the at least one industrial controller to utilize the second controlprogram to update the first control program.
 12. The method of claim 11,further comprising, employing, by the automation interface, an Internetbased protocol to connect to the at least one network-based clientapplication.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the transmittingfurther comprises transmitting the first control program to the at leastone network-based client application in response to an event detected bythe at least one industrial controller.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein the event is a preconfigured time-of-day.
 15. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the event is a change in at least one of a property ormethod of a programmable object associated with the automationinterface.